In a forest a young man waited patiently for a boar to walk by his hunting spot. A very aggressive breed was in the local area that the villagers wanted gone, and also he was quite hungry. A mercenary being as broke as he was would take any job at this point just to survive. The man had bait out with a rope trap for the boars, after hours of waiting the first boar was finally caught. Hanging by its foot by rope, the man came up and gently patted the boar that was frantically trying to escape.
“You’re quite big, villagers will pay me well for you!” the man said with a grin.
At that moment I heard footsteps running fast in my direction. Reflexes kick in and before I knew it, my spear was already ready for whatever was coming. I steadied my breathing as the sound got louder.
A man shot out behind a bush running for his dear life, his face in panic.
“Run!!” he said as the man sped by.
“What are you doing?” I said, while being relieved that it wasn’t another wild boar.
The man running didn’t turn back as I heard a vibrating noise come toward me.
My heart dropped, it can only be one thing. A giant wasp was chasing him. I began stepping backward, the boar even more frantically was trying to swing out of the trap. Before I knew it, a giant wasp came in view, the name describes it perfectly, it was the same size as a grown man, with a piercing stinger that was ready to strike. I ran with my spear for dear life in the same direction as the stranger. Peeking behind my shoulder for a brief moment, my boar was getting eaten to bits by that monster.
Finally catching up with the man that ran past me, he was laying on the ground next to a tree catching his breath. His black curly hair had twigs in it, his clothes dirty, wheat colored skin, and piercing dark brown eyes, this man was definitely not from around here.
“Thanks for taking care of the wasp!” the man gleamed.
“Not really something I wanted to do…it’s pretty hard to have a wasp leave its nest to this distance.” I said.
“Well, I walked into some cave and all of a sudden there were about 20 of them on me!”
“Why in the hell would you disturb the nest?!”
“I was just wondering if someone was inside, I was scared there was no intelligent life here you see. Oh my name is Aeolus by the way.”
The man was speaking pure idiocy, it was hard to listen to him speak because I was so mad about the boar I loss, but my curiosity was piqued with his strangeness.
“Yeah…the name is Henry. What kind of name is Aeolus? You just make that up? Sounds like an elf name, you don’t really look like one.”
“You just say Elf? Oh my…What have you gotten me into Zeus?” Aeolus laughed lightly while looking at the sky.
“Alright then…You’ll have to pay up for the boar I caught! I wasted hours waiting for that thing.”
Aeolus looked at me, looking at the spear in my hand at my feet to my head.
“Where is the town at?”
“The village is called Brine, it’s just behind me about a 10 minute walk.”
“Are you a warrior?” he said.
“What is that supposed to mean?! I’m a mercenary working in this village, helping with problems you know!”
He smiled a bit, and stood up and faced me.
“Henry…you’ll be the first to join my house! I’ll give you this coin here if you join the House of Aeolus the God of the Wind!” he said proudly.
“Uhh…yeah sure just hand it over then.”
Aeolus put out his hand suggesting he wanted a handshake, in it was something shiny, a gold coin! I grabbed his hand quick and took the transferred coin and stared at it. The coin had a head of a man on it; I’ve never seen anything like it before. As soon as I turned the other side of it, it started cracking, eventually puffing into thin air without a trace.
“What’s the meaning of this?” I yelled.
“Very interesting, I didn’t know it would do that.” He said with an intrigued face.
“Just forget about it…I’m…going to go back hunting, please leave before I lose my temper.”
“As you wish.” He bowed and smiled at me.
The uncoordinated man walked down the dirt trail toward Brine Village, a community of 200 people. Does this man really think he’s the God of the Wind? I laughed to myself despite my frustration and walked off to a different trap I set up close by.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
*
The former God of the Wind had a lot of time to think during his walk to the Village. A month will be a long time to wait for Olympus Coins, and the first week will be very important to do well. Aeolus’s stomach growled, he stopped walking.
“This is hunger?” I said out loud.
Astonished that I felt the basic needs of a human for the first time, my mind raced on how I will gain currency for food and other services. Temporarily I’ll have to find a job, but what should I do? I can’t fight, I’ll have to find some sort of service job.
Aeolus reached Brine and saw the rows of wooden houses and stores, almost as if the town was hidden within the forest. A small river ran through part of the town, a small bridge went over it connecting to a different portion. Many people were walking about this fine afternoon, children chasing small critters. A very peaceful village.
In the town I received many odd looks, kids stopping and pointing directly at me to their friends, older citizens outside their home squinting their judgmental eyes at my direction. A few minutes of walking and I was stopped by the local authorities of the town. Two middle-aged men in front of me while a younger man watching me from behind.
“What’s your business here in Brine stranger?” the one in front of me to the right said.
“Well, you see I’m here to find a job”
The three town guards studied him further, looking at Aeolus’s wooden sandals, strange clothes, and different accent.
“Ehh…we do need a few bodies in this city for certain jobs, people are moving out and disappearing every week, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to take in a newcomer. We got our eye on you though kid.” The older man said.
The three guards walked off, now uninterested in the young man. It’s not a normal occurrence for a new person to come into this town. So many hostile creatures roam the forest that you need to have an armed escort if you leave the village. The growing force of the goblins a days walk away north of there also threatens the town, if the goblins strike the town then there would be a good chance this town wouldn’t win.
After the conversation with the guards I heard a voice from a store, it was an older man, grey hair and a big beard, the man stood from his chair with a hunched back approaching me. He had a friendly grin with missing teeth, he also reeked of booze.
“I got a job for ya, come work at me store sellin me weapons and armor, if you’re homeless I’ll even give ya the 2nd floor room to board, also 5 copper coins a day. Not a bad deal if you ask me kid. This helps me out quite a bit so I can focus on my blacksmithin” The old man spoke as if he knew me for years.
“Yes of course!” I said, still not sure what value 5 copper is.
“My name’s Chandler, yours?”
“The Wind G…I mean Aeolus.”
“Strange name you got there, well I got somethings I need to work on, how about I show you everything inside the place. It’s nothing much but I’m sure it’s better than outside. You can start work tomorrow, it’ll be quite simple for a man like yourself.”
Aeolus and the man enter the building, after being shown around the place he was given a key and a blanket. When the old man left Aeolus was left to his thoughts, not the spacious mansion he owned in Palm Springs, he felt home sick from his paradise on Earth. For the remaining hours of light he began plans of upcoming weeks.
I was laying on my stomach on the wooden floor, writing on paper I found with a quell pen and inkhorn. Making some sort of goal sheet was imperative, I must make every moment matter this first month, getting as much Olympus Coins early will guarantee my safety for a little while at least, until I can find good allies. Supporting myself is important as well, buying a castle with the coins may be a priority before having an army. My advancement here really depends how much coin I get next week, I can quit working here and just full time scout the land, finding out who is friend and foe will be the priority in the coming months. I’m not going to be so careless when picking friends from now on, for all I know that Henry guy is just a bum and taking my power without doing anything.
It was dark now, with no candle Aeolus stopped his planning and focused on getting rest for tomorrow’s first day of work. He sighed at his current position and his foolish decision to throw away his coin on a random mercenary.
“Maybe it will all pan out well for me.” He said lightly before sleeping.
*
Henry was scouting a patrol of goblins four days after that fateful day he met Aeolus. The night sky was black with no stars, and a full moon. Laying his head close to the ground peeking over the edge of the cliff that he’s on, Henry looked down at 5 goblins chatting around a small campfire cooking rabbits they hunted earlier. Behind Henry his partner Heldbeard, a middle aged dwarf with black hair and a beard, Heldbeard fought with two small axes in each hand. The dwarf man curious about the situation couldn’t hold his voice for any longer.
“What’s it lookin like laddy?” the dwarf said softly.
Henry cautiously crawled away from the edge and answered the dwarf.
“About 5 of them, not very strong looking ones, probably just a patrol.”
“I say we get Bronson and Peter over here, we can take them just us.”
Henry shook his head and agreed. They informed the other two members of the group hidden in the forest below. Henry and Heldbeard reached the others, they made a plan of ambush, it was nothing new for them, they’ve worked as a team killing goblin patrols the last few months since it was dangerous to do alone. Bronson was a large man with a shield and sword, he was young but was a seasoned fighter, while Peter who had a bow and a knife was a thin average height man, but with enough time he could land any shot. Henry with his spear and shield, Heldbeard with his axes, it was a very formidable team. The group made their plan and preparations were made.
Waiting in a bush with Heldbeard by my side, we waited for Peter to be in position on the cliff I was just at. The plan was for Peter to snipe out one, then immediately Bronson was to charge from the rear. The goblins should be distracted enough for Heldbeard and I to kill them quick from behind. I waited until I saw Peter in place, watching him bring back his bow string aiming down at the goblins. Everything was going as plan until he missed. The arrow went way off, I heard Heldbeard shock in his movement near me. I looked back at Peter and he was falling off the cliff with a spear going through his back out his chest, with noises coming from above of multiple goblins. The goblin camp ahead of us were already alerted and ready to fight, everything is going wrong. Heldbeard our leader in panic yelled an order.
“Run! Meet at rendezvous point!”
Before I knew it the little dwarf was already gone, I saw Bronson run off in a different direction as well. I followed suit, about a 30 second sprint and my foot was caught on a tree root tripping me on the ground. Surrounded by torches and goblins, as I raised my head off the floor, it was over. A big goblin with a wooden club bashed me over the head.